Back in Time: Cambridge Circa 1992

I’ve often written about my years in Cambridge, MA, when I was on the faculty of Boston University. I lucked into a rent-controlled apartment on Harvard Street, just a few blocks from Harvard’s campus. The source of that luck was my colleague Judith (who just retired this year) who taught dance and movement in the theater program and who had an apartment in the building. I stayed there for a few days when I was looking for a place to live, but still living in Philadelphia. Her apartment was charming and I thought longingly of it the whole first year I was in Boston, living in the smallest studio in the world. Even then, Boston rents were high and I was earning very little money.

So when Judith called me one day during the summer after my first year of teaching and told me an apartment had opened up and, if I wanted it, I had to call the landlady right away, I dialed that phone so quickly your head would spin. It was exactly the same as Judith’s apartment, but on the third floor rather than the first. I spent several days painting it white and then I moved in. Much, much less rent and a tree-lined street and Cambridge, for heaven’s sake! I was so happy.

I thought I didn’t have any photos of that apartment, but in my parents’ things (they saved every photo ever taken) I found some that I had mailed to them. I thought it would be fun to share them with you. We might subtitle this post: Living on an extreme budget in a very expensive city. Or: I’m still doing the same thing, just in the country.

You might recognize some pieces. I tend to keep things around for a long time. (I’ve scanned these photos, so they aren’t the best quality. I’ve also had to resize them several times to get them looking somewhat decent.)

In the kitchen: my Fiesta collection. Sigh. I sold it many years ago. What was I thinking? Recognize those chairs? I found them in a used furniture store in Cambridge and I’m still using them today.

I gathered that Fiesta bit by bit, on a very small budget. All vintage. No ‘newer’ Fiesta.

The kitchen was bright and sunny. It had very little cupboard space, but I added a wooden cabinet, and there was a great pantry. There were two big windows facing Harvard Street. I saved up for that table, it was made of black ash.

The Fiesta. It’s breaking my heart.

In the bedroom. Recognize the dresser? I found it on the street in Cambridge and my friend and I carried it several blocks and then up three flights of stairs. It’s been painted three times and is currently aqua and cream. The trunk was my grandmother’s and is in our office now. This must have been about 1991 or 1992 because that’s my brother’s hat on the radiator and he died in 1991.

My bed. Or rather, my futon sofa/bed. In my studio apartment this was a sofa most of the day. Here, I didn’t need to close it up by day and open it up and remake the bed every night and that was a big treat, let me tell you. The quilt was made by my friend Jan. This was several years before I started quilting. Those red chairs were in an apartment I lived in in Philadelphia. I think they were Thonet. I painted them glossy red and brought them with me to Boston.

I’m pretty sure I left them in Cambridge when I moved to San Diego. The guy who took over the apartment was on the faculty at BU and I left him a dresser and those chairs. Now I would like them back, please.

You can see why I loved this apartment. It was on a corner and there was a bay window on one side of the living room and double windows on the adjoining wall. It was filled with light. Plants thrived there and I had them hanging everywhere.

Recognize the chair? Yep. Still have it. The sofa belonged to my friend Judith. I eventually replaced it with the loveseat I still have to this day.

And there it is. It has a slipcover these days. I loved that table, which I found in some antique shop and carried all the way home. And I mean carried. Many, many city blocks. I didn’t have a car.

Dark and blurry, but there was a beautiful, non-working fireplace as well.

I mean…what single girl wouldn’t love this apartment?

Black leather chair and ottoman. The table? Found in the prop room at BU, used in my office for a year or so, then moved to this apartment. I still use it. It’s painted a creamy color now and Mabel (my Featherweight) lives there. The lamp was found when I was in my early twenties at the now-defunct J.L.Hudson’s annual warehouse sale in Detroit. It worked like a charm up until a year or so ago. That’s a LONG time.

I was clearly working on some needlepoint – where the heck did that piece go?

Me and my mom outside the apartment building. She came to visit me during my last summer there. It was horribly hot and humid while she was there, but we were determined to see everything and we did.

Same legs and bony knees. I’m definitely my mom’s daughter.

There’s the building I lived in. I took this a few years back when I was working in Boston on a coaching job. Count up three floors on the corner and you’ll see my apartment.

I probably could have lived there happily for many more years, but I was terribly underpaid and I needed to move on. It was only because of that, because I LOVED my job at Boston University. Loved my students. That apartment went on to be lived in by the gentleman I spoke of earlier in the post and then by my dear friend Eve. Eventually, Eve had to move because the landlady died and the building was sold and turned into condos.

What a wonder apartment! I visited Boston with a group of teachers one year on spring break in the early nineties. I was the high school secretary. We stayed in Cambridge at a B&B. It was a really fun trip.
Another thing we have in common is our love for Fiesta. I have a rather large collection. I love it! Thanks for sharing your pictures and memories.

Fabulous memories! How amazing that your parents kept these photos all this time for you to find again and relive your time in Boston. You must have loved living there, it certainly was a beautiful apartment! xx

Great apartment in a great location. I recognize the building from my years in Boston. It was there, in the late sixties, that I discovered Fiesta which I’d never seen before. At Morgan Memorial (Goodwill) all the dishes were .25 apiece and I bought lots of them but NOT ONE SINGLE bit of Fiesta! What was I thinking? I’ve regretted that ever since.

I Sold most of my large fiesta collection, too … pennies on the dollars. sob. I had a huge cupboard full and when we moved I didn’t have room for the dishes or the cup board. I was a typical 80’s & 90’s collector, a more is better girl. How many sets of dishes could I have? I look back and think of the $$$$ spent on STUFF. I love the way you live, use what you have and decorate beautifully. It is a gift, I hear your worries about money at times but you are a lovely example on thoughtful consumption.

What an absolutely wonderful apartment. Inside and out. Love all your furnishings, then and now. So glad you shared. I would have stayed in that apartment forever but travel to San Diego and finding Don were worth the trade. Thanks Mom and Dad for saving those pictures.

I would like to live in that apt now!! Maybe that would force me to downsize. I have been cleaning and purging, and it never ends. As another drawer or closet is opened, another project begins. That bank of windows in a bay shape….. just wonderful!!!!!
Oh, the Fiesta ware!!! If only we could see into the future. But, I guess that has a whole other set of nightmares.
My Mom saved all pics, too. I guess when they were printed out from each roll of film they shot, they just never thought of throwing them away. Not quite the same as clicking them away today.
Wonderful memories!

Love this post! I never lived in Boston but in the suburbs! Going to the city was such a treat but scary for me. I was such a Calif beach girl and the BIG city was amazing! I also lived on Cape Cod and adored that. I enjoyed seeing your treasures and how many have come along with you all these years. I never had Fiesta until about 10 years ago I found a stack of vintage luncheon plates for 10 cents…the whole stack for 10 cents. I use them as my main plates now and love them. I don’t have many other pieces but these are very special to me. Maybe you will luck upon some Fiesta one of these days. Great memories! I understand about the photos, when moving Mom she had a huge tub filled with all sorts of photos and two or three boxes of greeting cards.
hugs,
Linda

What a step back in time! Beautiful apartment! Speaking of fiesta…wow! My mom sold all of hers except for one piece that her sister gave her. Yes, I shed tears too! But, then she sold all of her Roseville too…go figure? How wonderful that your parents had those pics. For some reason on my iPad…the 3rd and 4th pic didn’t come out…one of them is the Facebook symbol….weird! So I missed your futon bed. Enjoyed this post…going back in time is kinda wonderful…a much simpler time! ;)

Oh…I’m sure it’s a problem on my part! Funny thing is though…I wrote that comment before your post came through in email. When I checked my email…there was your post, in it’s entirety…complete with all pictures! Love those pics…looks so cozy with all that sun streaming in! ;)

Whenever I hear the word “Cambridge” I always remember what a VERY old college friend, a Beacon Hill native, says about it. That residents of Cambridge never tell anyone they’re from Boston, they are always careful to specifically mention “Cambridge.” Oh, also that no self-respecting native would ever allow that Boston is home to Harvard. Make no mistake – Harvard is located in Cambridge! Apparently this is how native Bostonians know when they’re dealing with tourists or out-of-towners. Personally I love the whole greater metropolitan Boston area with a holy passion. One of only 3 cities in the US I’d willingly move to, should I ever be forced – LOL. Finally having a bright “sun” day, after 3 days of gray rainy and/or overcast November weather. I plan on giving my sunglasses a workout this afternoon. Enjoy your day too!

It’s finally sunny here, too. Thank goodness. I loved and was proud of living in Cambridge, but I also lived in Boston for a year and was equally proud of that. But living just a few blocks from Harvard was awfully cool – even though I taught in the university across the river. There’s just so much history at Harvard.

I fantasize about having my own leafy apartment! This one is perfect and a perfect expression of you. Don’t you love having those pieces that have travelled with you all these years! As for the Fiesta, I’ve regretted every purge and am still looking for some books that I think I got rid of years ago. Sometimes caches of stuff seems to just disappear. That’s the worst. I don’t know what happened to them.

Love this apartment and how you furnished it, Claudia. It must have been difficult to leave, but I understand about having to leave a low-paying job. One has to earn enough to live! Old city apartments have so much personality. I have fond memories of my grandmother’s in Evanston, just a block from Chicago. She, too, had a lot of plants in front of her large windows. Your photos are true gems; so glad you found them. Blessings, Bess

How lucky you were to score such a fantastic apt!!! It’s so nice that you have kept some of your original pieces – they are filled with so many memories. My first apt. was just okay, but I also filled it with plants everywhere. My apt came furnished, so the only pieces I still have from that time are linens, china and silverware picked up at thrift stores. Loved your fiesta collection. Thank you for sharing such delightful memories.

We got cold here today: 60 degrees at 10:30am and that’s a first in awhile here in Southern Calif. It’ll probably bypass us as usual but we’re slated for a couple of hours of…hold the breath…RAIN. We’re very overcast closer to noon now.

I enjoyed your photos so much. You had a heavenly apartment with so much character which you enhanced with your eclectic belongings and decorating talent. I’m betting that any place you ever lived, you made your space a real home. What I mean by that is…I’ve known too many people who treat apartment living as so temporary, never really NOT living out of boxes, never ‘pleasant-ing up” the place. (But, alternatively, I know a woman who has to travel a lot for business and ALWAYS in her suitcase, for every hotel room, are framed photos from home, a cozy throw of her own, a few scented candles; a favorite teacup…and fresh flowers if somewhere between Point A & B she managed to score some from a store or stall.)

Your pix brought back memories of some of my apartments from my 20s and 30s when I, too, was one of those single girls. Sometimes I almost think I was happier in my smaller spaces, letting somebody else worry about the plumbing and the roof…if it just hadn’t been for some of the awful neighbors I had; there are tenants who can be incredibly rude about sharing space in a building. I still have the love seat I bought ‘used’ from a co-worker in 1976 and I wish I would have kept a fold-out table I’d also bought from her; they are so versatile and can be used in a ton of ways; I think the proper term might be drop-leaf but I’m not sure…you’d sort of fold the legs in and drop the sides and then it could be a half-moon sort of hall table/console table but I’d used it as a round breakfast table for years. Ah, the stuff we’ve sold or gotten rid of along the way; I also have regrets and wish I still had some of it.

I will say, though, that my 1940s-era apartment in Santa Barbara (1980s was my time there) was a fave; tiny place I rented, because S.B. is a really expensive city to live in (although it’s vibrant, teaming with lots to do and places to go; and a supremely-gorgeous environment with its hillsides/bluffs, marina, Spanish-Mediterranean architecture with red-tile roofs) but the apartment had a distant view of the ocean of which I never tired and I had wonderful, stable neighbors (a 4-plex within a larger complex). The lady next to me (we were upstairs) had the most-beautiful apartment I still think I’ve ever seen; she was British and had fluffy white curtains in the windows which would billow in the sea breeze, lovely rose-on-sage wool scatter rugs, framed prints of English countryside on the walls, a teapot collection on top of the piano (which she played exquisitely; I loved to listen to the sounds of that piano wafting balcony-over-to-balcony); English-rose needlepoint throw pillows on a just-right-size, overstuffed sofa of that same soft green; delicious, all of it, like it should have been in a magazine. Very feminine but not stiflingly-feminine surroundings (just comfy and a treat for the eyes); she’d gotten divorced and said she’d lived in a minimalist environment [for decades] with brown-everything and mostly leather/chrome…so, when she made the big split, she blossomed again into that English Rose she’d been before she married the guy, surrounded by fine old white lace, a few ruffles, pretty things all around her; pastel colors.

It’s often such a question when we look back and the decisions we made; how one topic or statement or experience changed the entire course of our life; how some thing/one thing altered our direction and ‘what might have been’ had we not done this or that…but, it’s pointless to think about it, isn’t it (I tell myself this all the time; that I’m clearly not in charge).

The photo with your mom is so nice. I’m sure it had pleased her to see the apartment photos at the time, knowing you were safe and happy; all settled in. She could see for herself and have the picture in her mind of you in those rooms and among your familiar things when she’d talk to you on the phone…the photos connecting the dots and easing a mom’s worry.

I lived in an apartment in San Diego which had brown beams that were hand painted with flower designs – in an old Spanish building. Loved that place a lot, although I was robbed there and my grandmother’s and great-grandmother’s rings were taken. Still – loved it. Tile work in the kitchen in a mint sort of Jadeite green. I moved because I met Don and we moved into a house together.

I have always made every place I’ve lived in – from childhood bedroom to dorm room to tiny studio apartment – a haven for me. I simply have to do that.

I’m so glad your parents saved those pictures and so glad you shared them with us. The bay window was gorgeous, and the Fiestaware!!! We too practically gave away a vintage set my mother had. Makes me sick now. I love the way the apartment looked; it was just as warm and cozy as your cottage is today. I can see why you loved your apartment, but I am very glad that you found Don. Have a great day.

Great pictures and I think I would love that apartment too Claudia…The best picture is the one of you and your pretty Mom…Even though you loved living in Cambridge..I’m glad you decided to move to San Diego….Fate is a funny thing sometimes…it seems to guide you to where you need to be….

Welcome!

I live in a little cottage in the country with my husband and dog. It's a sweet place, sheltered by old trees and surrounded by gardens. The inside is full of the things we love. I love to write, I love my camera, I love creating. My decorating style is eclectic but if I had to call it anything, I'd call it Christmas in Connecticut, after all those forties movies with comfy cottage style.

I've worked in the theater for more years than I can count. I'm currently a voice, speech, dialect and text coach freelancing on Broadway, off Broadway, and in regional theater.

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